Parade

Cake Boss Buddy Valastro's Dream Customer

Life is pretty sweet for Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro. The fifth season of his hit reality show wrapped last month (ending with a special duet between his mother and legend Gloria Gaynor), and Valastro's spinoff, Next Great Baker, finished its third season in February. Plus, his own line of bakeware will hit stores later this year—and as if that wasn't enough, he's currently working on a new show on TLC.

Valastro credits his loving loyal fan following for all his success. "I'm just ecstatic about all the reaction from the fans," he said.

The master baker talked to Parade.com about his recent birthday cake, who he still wants to bake for, and which baking tool he couldn't live without.

On celebrating his recent 36th birthday. "I have a line of housewares products launching, so I was at the housewares show in Chicago. My wife and my daughter came out there because my daughter had a daddy-daughter dance that I was going to miss. And I said, 'You know what? You come with me to the show,' and we had so much fun. We went out for a great family dinner in Chicago, and my daughter made me a cake at the show in the demo booth, and it was so, so cute."

On his favorite celebrity customer. "Probably the one that I'm most proud of is the cake I made for Oprah because she was so cool when I met her in real life. Being on TV, you meet a hundred people, and it's always, 'Do you remember me? Do you remember me?' Every time I meet Oprah, she remembers me. We laugh and you know it's genuine."

On who he still wants to bake for. "We want to do a cake for the President of the United States, so if you have his number, give him a call and tell him Buddy's looking for him. Tell him I'll trade him cake, and we can talk about economics. I'll give him my economic plan."

On the surprising baking tool he couldn't live without. "There are so many, but I'd say if you want to make cakes, you need to have a good turntable. It's a very important tool in cake decorating. Ninety percent of my cake decorating starts with a turntable. I'll always put a cupcake or a cake on a turntable because it makes things a lot easier."

On his favorite episodes of Cake Boss. "Probably the most sentimental episode was the birth of my son Carlol. That was a very touching one. The last one—the tribute to my mom, was really, really amazing and the fact that we were able to get my mom to sing with Gloria Gaynor was just the cherry on top. It was something I wanted to give to my mama."

On the fan response to his mom's ALS diagnosis. "Honestly, I can't thank the fans enough because it motivates her. All the prayers, all the love, all the support from all over the world—every day, she's like, 'Did I get any fan mail?' And she answers it all. She knows how loved she is throughout the world and it's kind of its own medicine."

On one of his favorite nostalgic desserts. "My favorite has got to be the M&M's cookie. We've been baking with them at the bakery for over 20 years now, and they have been a huge seller there. We also have a delicious chocolate peanut butter brownie done with peanut butter M&Ms, which are ooey-gooey and delicious. The texture of the candy shell just really gives it a little more oomph, which makes it great."